Cleaned out my closet. Yep. It's that time of year to make way for spring and summer clothes.And umm no, my closet doesn't even compare to the beauties pictured above:) And it was no where near as fun as SJP and friends had cleaning out her closet while popping champagne! (note to self -- next time).So, before I began this "painful-to-me" task I contacted my good friend Kristin Van Dusen of design + conquer to get some tips to make this brutal task more efficient and dare I say more enjoyable and ... Guess what?She delivered! So, of course I had to share her tips with you and I'm thrilled to have her guest post today. Take it away, Kristin...

Kristin Van Dusen, Certified Professional Organizer.

Hi! Kristin Van Dusen fromdesign + conquer here! Closet giving you trouble? No problem just follow these tips and you'll have this task conquered in no time!

Look at the current set up of your closet and
begin removing everything by section.Use your bed and bedroom floor space as a staging area to divide
everything into 5 categories:

1. Keep

2.Donate

3.Consign (if you want – otherwise combine with
donate)

4.Action (take to dry cleaners, needs to be fixed, etc.)

5.Come back to later

Don’t spend
longer than 30 seconds trying to decide which category to put something
into.If you get locked up just put it
in the “come back to later” pile and re-visit it after you have gone through
everything else.

Beware of keeping items for emotional reasons. When you
keep an item for emotional reasons, every time you see this item you have a
sub-conscious mental dialogue with yourself that stirs up various negative feelings. From guilt (“I can’t get rid of this – my mom gave it to
me”) to foolishness (“I
can’t believe I wasted so much money on this”) to just plain feeling bad about
yourself (“I used
to be able to fit into this”).That’s a whole lot of negative
mental chatter every time you enter your closet.

Once you have narrowed down your keep pile
(remember only those things that make you feel good when you wear them!) sort
them by category- shirts, pants, dresses, jeans, suits, etc.

Hangers are everything!Be sure you have wooden hangers for
coats/suits, satin padded for delicate items, and slimline hangers for
everything else

Once everything is out of the closet and sorted,
it’s time to clean the closet.At a
minimum use a damp cloth and a vacuum.If you’re really motivated you can even slap on a fresh coat of paint.

Before you start putting things back into your
closet, take the time to really think about how you use the space.Stand in the empty (and clean!) closet and
think about how you would like it to function for you. Don’t put items back in
the same place just because you’re used to seeing them there.Think about flow and efficiency – things you
wear frequently should be towards the front ofyour closet - off season or infrequently worn items go towards the back.
If you have double hung rods, consider if you are more comfortable looking up
or down and hang your go-to items accordingly.

As you begin to put your sorted clothes back in,
it’s worth it to take the extra few minutes to refine each category a bit more
by how you wear them .For example,
break your shirts down into those for work, those you wear casually, and those
for a night out on the town.If you’re
feeling particularly inspired you can even sort these new groups by color.

For items such as sweaters that are better
folded, you can put them on a shelf with dividers, you can place them in a
hanging canvas bag or use an acrylic sweater drawer from The ContainerStore.I use
these multi-purpose drawers ALL THE TIME as they come in a variety of sizes
(shoe, shirt, sweater, etc.).

For extra
shoes that don’t fit on a shelf, a cubby or an over the door shoe organizer –
or for those shoes that you don’t wear often, the shoe drawers are easy to
use.You can even pop a picture of the
shoe right on the face of the drawer so that if it is on a high shelf it’s easy
to see what you have. The large sweater
drawers are also great used in conjunction with dividers to break the space up
… think of storing accessories like belts, clutches, etc. in here.

A lot of people like to display their jewelry – and
let’s face it, some of the pieces are so beautiful they really are art!Use a collection of hooks, frames, a pegboard
… whatever works best to display what you have.

Organizing your closet can be a daunting task … use these
tips to keep yourself motivated and moving along.Before you know it, your closet will be one
of your favorite spaces to spend time in!

Thanks Kristin! xoxo - you really are a life-saver! If you want more information on Kristin and design + conquer you can contact her here!

Random Thoughts

Also impressed again by this ... I mean really ... how does she do it?

What a difference. Go here to learn more. This chick Cara needs to come to my house and transform me. Like Tonight.Before I go here. You're coming tonight right?

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